Your Safety Ignored : The Risk of Terrorism

UK Companies must have a Risk Assessment

It is a legal requirement for employers to have a risk assessment, the law stating that employers must identify the dangers within their operational environment and then take steps to reduce the severity of the risks impact should they occur.

Trips and falls, working at height, manual handling, are topics that are widely covered. However, there’s a risk; salient and ubiquitous that for most goes ignored.

The UK Terror Threat

We are continually warned by the police and other security agencies that the risk of terrorist attacks are a constant reality and that this risk will be with us for a significant period of time – experts in the field defining the period not in years or even decades but in generations (a generation commonly accepted as 25 years). For example the UKs terror threat level is currently at SEVERE– attacks highly likely.

Not as protected as you think

So why is it that our the safety is being side-lined by the organisations that are duty bound to protect us? My research has found that the subject is just deemed too big; it’s the proverbial elephant in the room that on one wants to tackle. The result of this lack of a duty of care has resulted that spaces that you visit with your family: shopping malls, train stations, sporting events, pop concerts etc., have done very little if anything to ensure your safety in the event of a terror attack.

Counter Terrorism Risk Management

Project Griffin – an awareness initiative developed by the police for industry and commerce on counter-terrorism – goes someway in addressing the issue, but you can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. In a recent presentation that I attended in a major UK city by counter-terrorism officers, only four business’s were represented.

What you can do if you are responsible for a business in the UK and you’re concerned about the threat of terrorism

Its time that employers, businesses and those corporate entities that are responsible for mass public spaces, realise that its our safety that they’re putting at risk by their inability to comprehend the current dangers. Do so now before a tsunami of personal injury claims come landing at your door.

Welcome

Since 2005 Richard has been involved on three continents ensuring that the people he cares for are as safe as possible from the increasing risk of terrorism. Using his research; degrees from Leicester in Security & Risk Management and St Andrews in Terrorism & Political Violence; as well as a vast amount of empirical experience. He’s reintegrated Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, facilitated entry in Islamic State controlled Mosul, created security frameworks against the threat of Boko Haram and Al Shabaab in Africa and dodged Al Qaeda IEDs in Iraq.